At the March 2005 Quarterly Meeting of the Coordinating Council
on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Council members
discussed ways to increase their level of coordination in 2005.
Projects agreed to include the joint sponsorship of a first-of-its-kind
conference to be held in the winter of 2005-2006, joint and/or
coordinated funding of new special initiatives, and increased
emphasis on gang prevention and cross-agency data collection.
Members also learned about and discussed OJJDP's development
of a geographic information system (GIS) strategic planning
tool from its onsite contractor, Robert Burns, GIS Coordinator
with Lockheed Martin, and Phelan Wyrick, OJJDP Gang Program
Coordinator. In addition, the meeting provided Council members
and the public with information on the federal Safe Schools/Healthy
Students (SS/HS) Initiative and the U.S. Department of Education's
programs for children who are neglected, delinquent, or at
risk. William Modzeleski, Associate Assistant Deputy Undersecretary,
Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, U.S. Department of Education;
Sonia Chessen, Chief of Staff, Office of the Assistant Secretary
for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services; and Kellie Dressler-Tetrick, Branch Chief,
Demonstration Programs Division, and Former Safe Schools/Healthy
Students Program Coordinator, Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention, gave presentations on the Safe Schools/Healthy
Students Initiative, which is coordinated by the U.S. Department
of Education and involves HHS's Center for Mental Health
Services and DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention. Marilyn Copeland, Director of Elementary Programs,
Jonesboro Public Schools, Jonesboro, AR, described the SS/HS
program in her local community and a subsequent dramatic decline
in juvenile drug arrests. Gary Rutkin, Education Program Specialist,
Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs, U.S.
Department of Education, described the main provisions of Title
I, Part D, also called Prevention and Intervention Programs
for Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At
Risk. Council members offered feedback regarding these presentations.
Action items emanating from the Council meeting addressed recommendations
from the Final Report of the White House Task Force for Disadvantaged
Youth: coordinating federal programs that serve the nation's
disadvantaged youth, establishing working groups to implement
coordination efforts, and helping to plan the national juvenile
justice conference to be held in late 2005.

Members Present

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) J. Robert Flores,
Vice Chair, Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention

White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) For
John P. Walters, Director, Office of National Drug Control
PolicyTad Davis, Assistant Deputy Director, Demand Reduction

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) For Elaine
L. Chao, Secretary of LaborGregg Weltz, Program Manager, Office of Youth Services

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) For
Michael Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services Barbara
Broman, Deputy to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human
Services Policy

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) For Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development Matthew P. Braud, Special Assistant,
Office of Public Housing and Voucher Programs

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) For
Michael J. Garcia, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement John Pogash, National Juvenile
Coordinator, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) For
David Eisner, Chief Executive Officer, Corporation for National
and Community Service John Foster-Bey, Senior Advisor,
Research and Policy Development

Practitioner Members

Bray Barnes, Attorney/Consultant, Toms River, NJ

Larry Brendtro, President, Reclaiming Youth International,
Lennox, SD

William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General, Memphis and
Shelby County District

Mr. Flores call the meeting to order and welcomed
Council members, agency staff, and members of the public to
the Quarterly Meeting of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention and thanked them for attending.
Mr. Flores expressed his appreciation for the level of attention
and staff involvement from practitioner members, members of
Federal agencies, and representatives of other entities in
supporting the work of the Council.

Ms. Deborah Price welcomed Council members and members of
the public to the Department of Education. The Department of
Education considers the work of the Council coordinating
issues and initiatives and avoiding duplicationan important
part of the work of the federal government. A focus of the
day's agenda was the Safe Schools/Healthy Student (SS/HS)
program, which is sponsored by the Departments of Education,
Health and Human Services, and Justice. Ms. Price introduced
three ED staff members from the SS/HS program: Karen Dorsey,
Jane Hodgdon-Young, and Michael Wells.

Discussion on Opportunities for Coordination for 2005 J.
Robert Flores, OJJDP

Council members will continue to meet and talk between the
formal quarterly meetings, and agencies will hopefully realize
valuable benefits arising from these discussions and subsequent
activities.

Responses to the January 7, 2005, letter from Mr. Flores to
Council members requesting suggestions on two issues for coordination
and ideas for joint training and funding on each issue included
the following:

Gang prevention. To ensure that law enforcement's
gang suppression approach is balanced with a gang prevention approach,
HHS suggested forming a working group to disseminate successful
programs using both approaches and better coordinate programs.
Mr. Flores asked that Council members, including practitioners,
identify upcoming training symposia on gang prevention and
inform Bob Samuels so that information can be available on
the Council Web site (www.juvenilecouncil.gov) and that staff
and materials can be sent to these meetings.

Cross-agency data collection systems. HHS suggested
that Web-based designs that will collect data on grant programs
and client outcomes be used so that data can be shared across
agencies. Because of the size of this task, two subject areas
can be chosen to start the process.

Funding opportunities. Council members were asked
to identify funding opportunities and budgets available for
coordination. Sharing information among member agencies about
Council agencies' own budgets in these early planning
stages would be helpful to better coordinate the locations,
the extent of the programming, the purposes of the programming,
and other features of grant programs. Geographic information
system (GIS) mapping technology will be valuable in such
an effort. For example, gang prevention program staff would
like to know how many schools are located within a gang site,
the area targeted by the intervention.

Introduction to Speaker on Mapping of Service Areas Bob
Samuels, Acting Designated Federal Official for the Council,
OJJDP

Mr. Samuels noted that several meetings have been held with
DOL, HHS's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP),
and other federal departments on developing a GIS strategic
planning tool that would locate resources for juvenile justice
programs and indicate contact information. Many localities
have been using GIS for both crime mapping and resource mapping
for some time; the federal government wants to be able to interpret
their data better and "add value" by sharing grant
data, such as location of grant service areas, types of services
offered, and contact information.

Mr. Burns stated that the GIS strategic planning tool that
OJJDP is developing in cooperation with other federal agencies
and nongovernment analytic partners is consistent with the
President's Management Agenda Initiative for E-Government.

The demonstration project focuses on an area within North
Miami Beach, Florida, that contains one of OJJDP's gang
reduction programs. The GIS resource map of the area shows
the following sites: OJP demonstration projects, Weed and Seed
areas, DOL Youth Services projects, places of worship, schools,
care facilities, emergency centers, and fire and police stations,
along with highways and roads, airports, and other types of
transportation.

The mapping is multilayered; a database supporting the graphic
display can be searched and offers information on, for example,
funding amounts, location, and contact information. A map can
be created to show the density of crime over a time period
and clearly point out hot spots. Overlaying the crime density
map on the resource map can help planners determine if the
services match the areas of greatest crime and therefore greatest
need. Comparisons of crime mapping from year to year show shifts
in location and density and can help planners decide how to
reallocate resources. Going one step further, a map created
from the community disadvantage index, made up of factors such
as population and income and available for the whole nation,
can be overlaid with both a crime map and a resource map to
compare all three aspects of a community.

Additional cross-agency cooperation will increase the amount
of data collected, and all agencies will find the resulting
maps and analyses of the maps more helpful to their planning
efforts. Previously unknown services will be used, duplication
will be lessened, funding will be spent more efficiently, and
dollars will be saved.

OJJDP's GIS tool is related to an effort discussed at
the Council's 2004 quarterly meeting at HHS about an
online strategic planning tool, which is being used in conjunction
with OJJDP's gang reduction program and ties into the
mapping effort discussed at the present meeting. The online
tool, although it does not link to geographic-specific information,
is a resource for communities to find proven and effective
programs for replication. Programs can be searched, for example,
by risk factors addressed and age ranges of youth served.

Collecting mapping data in the proper format is an expensive
and difficult task, especially for localities. Therefore, when
OJJDP's GIS strategic planning tool has gathered data
nationwide, it will be shared with relevant agencies and organizations
across the nation. Local communities will be able to complete
an inventory of their resources and add geographic indicators
to the database so they can use the system online. OJJDP will
take data from the local inventories and create maps with even
finer detail. OJJDP intends to tie the mapping effort into
a strategic planning tool so that both local communities and
federal agencies can use it to learn from the research, replicate
best practices and programs, and make better decisions.

Starting this year, OJJDP asks grant applicants to provide
the following information regarding the locations where services
are to be provided: physical addresses, roadmaps, and street
descriptions. This information will be placed into the planning
tool so that GIS maps can be generated. Mr. Flores also requested
that representatives of federal agencies on the Council provide
the same information to Bob Samuels on their agency's
programs, such as mentoring programs (HHS, ED, and other agencies),
21st Century Learning Grants (ED), and job training programs
(DOL), to name a few. Gathering information on locations where
services are provided, in addition to the location of the lead
agency or grantee, will give local and federal planners the
detail they need to determine priorities and other decisions.

DOL, HHS, and ED have been collaborating
since the second half of 2004 to support job training, and
special thanks go to DOL staffers Richard Morris, Gregg Weltz,
and Emily DeRocco for their efforts.

The omnibus appropriations bill requires OJJDP to address
Internet safety for children and youth and requests that OJJDP
and the Council provide information on the types and quantity
of Internet safety programs that are federally funded. This
information will be shared with parents, law enforcement personnel,
school personnel, and after-school program staff. OJJDP's
Child Protection Division is collecting this information, and
the Council chair asks that Council member agencies respond
as quickly as possible to their requests for information. The
resulting report will be available on the OJJDP and Council
Web sites (http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org and www.juvenilecouncil.gov),
and Web sites of other federal agencies can provide a link
to it as well. As mentioned at the December 2004 quarterly
Council meeting, the bill's conferees recognized the
work of the Council and encouraged the group to move forward
and increase coordination across agencies. Practitioner members
of the Council also are encouraged to put forth suggestions
for improved coordination.

Discussion Among Council Members Regarding Coordination
Opportunities

Lorenzo Harrison (DOL) responded to OJJDP's request
for ideas on coordination for 2005 in a letter received February
9, 2005, and proposed two issues for consideration: alternative
sentencing strategies and juvenile offender reentry programming.
Gregg Weltz (stand-in for DOL designee, Mason Bishop), Program
Manager, Office of Youth Services, also mentioned at the meeting
the issue of increased coordination among state agencies serving
the neediest youth.

Mr. Weltz reported that DOL will continue to use their regional
forums and coordination with states. In addition, DOL is working
with DOJ and performing a long-term impact evaluation of alternative
sentencing on labor market attachments at a youth facility
in Avon Park, FL. Mr. Flores raised a related concern: Can
alternative sentencing and connections to a job help build
and maintain hope in the minds of youth who are in confinement?
The programs at the Avon Park facility are an example of social
entrepreneurship, one of President Bush's priority areas.

Mr. Weltz also referenced another group of impact evaluation
studies (the kind of studies recommended by the White House
Task Force for Disadvantaged Youth) at five more youth offender
sites: Boston, MA, Nashville, TN, Philadelphia, PA, San Diego,
CA, and the South Bronx, NY. Mr. Flores asked that Council
members and their staffs consider how to make the youth who
enter these programs and agencies more welcome, despite their
deficits in education, job skills, and other areas. What allowances
can be made at the front end so that the youth are not seen
as, for example, bringing down the norm or success rates or
affecting the bonus structure?

John Foster-Bey (CNCS) reported that CNCS is in the process
of mapping their program sites and will forward that information
to OJJDP. Mentoring is also a priority at CNCS and conversations
with HHS have begun. Finally, working with the U.S. Conference
of Mayors, DOJ, and several nongovernmental organizations,
CNCS will develop reentry programs.

Practitioner member Larry Brendtro proposes two items for
consideration regarding increased coordination: (1) broadening
the definition of Internet safety to include cyberbullying
by teens who sponsor Web sites that target and threaten other
teens and (2) promoting strategies for building positive aspects
of the youth culture.

Mr. Flores announced that OJJDP will sponsor a weeklong national
conference

tentatively slated for the winter of 2005-2006. OJJDP extends
an invitation to all the agencies represented on the Council
(and several others that serve youth as well) to attend. The
conference will offer intensive training, not only
speeches, and in effect, will be 5 or 6 national conferences
scheduled simultaneously (with up to 50 breakout sessions), each
offering forums for the partner federal agencies on the
Council to interact and learn from each other. Participants
from non-OJJDP agencies, such as those from schools and the
police, would be encouraged to attend so that all the professions
and disciplines that affect youth can be at one conference
hearing the same messages. OJJDP can cover the costs of the
logistics and common tasks such as registration. Mr. Flores
asked that Council federal agency designees identify their
issues and speakers by setting up a working group to begin
planning their portions of the conference. Bob Samuels will
contact Council members for followup. (Note: The dates will
fall in the new fiscal year.)

Mr. Flores asked federal agency Council members to review
their budgets regarding types of program they might have in
common with other federal agencies, such as mentoring, addressing
educational deficiencies, and job training. The Departments
of Agriculture and Commerce are not members of the Council,
but they offer programs that serve youth, such as nutrition
programs, 4-H, and enterprise zones. Making grant solicitations
on related topics public on the same or nearby date would be
ideal and would present a more unified approach.

Many grant programs give advantages to previous and existing
grantees; OJJDP is suggesting that agencies set aside portions
of grant programs for first-time applicants. In addition, although
small and nonprofit agencies may be intimidated by the grantwriting
process, they may have the potential to serve more youth on
a per capita and per dollar basis than other larger organizations.
Deborah Price (ED) informed the group that the Department of
Education has identified ways to give novice applicants who
have never received any federal funding priority status, such
as awarding extra points or providing technical assistance
for grantwriting. This is stated in the application instructions,
on the ED Web site, and in mailings to constituencies. The
Corporation for National and Community Service is setting aside
funds for new applicants, experimenting with intermediary organizations
to reach out to the smaller organizations, and offering Next
Generation grants. Another group to be encouraged is young
researchers.

Judge Gordon Martin, practitioner Council member, asked whether
DOJ had requested the Secretary of Agriculture to name a designee
to the Council. Mr. Flores responded that DOJ has had conversations
with USDA and has invited various staff members to attend meetings.
(USDA is involved with an OJJDP pilot program on gang reduction.)
DOJ is preparing the way for the Attorney General to invite
the Secretary of Agriculture to join the Council. This request
must be approved by President Bush. Judge Martin noted that
when he was head of the Roxbury Court, USDA field representatives
(who exist in every county in the nation) created a resource
booklet, which included such topics as drug abuse and mental
health, and disseminated them to all probation officers.

Judge Steven Jones, practitioner Council member, described
the difficult drug-related problems in his state of Tennessee
and their efforts to deal with them, including federal funding.
The training provided by these federal grants, including Byrne
grants through the state, has been among the best he has experienced.
However, once the grants are completed, getting additional
funding is very difficult; localities and states will not continue
the programs and services provided by themeven though
they have been shown to be very effective.

Mr. Flores suggested that practitioner members help the Council
figure out how to work more effectively with governors, who
receive the majority of OJJDP federal funds through state formula
and block grantswhich are then passed on to localities.
Community-level feedback indicates that some of the funding
does not get passed on to the localities, and state-level feedback
indicates that funding that goes directly to the local level
lacks coordination with relevant state agencies. For example,
when funding goes to the governors' offices, should matching
funds from the state be required? What other mechanisms could
facilitate more coordination between localities and states?

Michael Mahoney, practitioner Council member, suggested that
the federal grant solicitation should require that governors' offices
and state advisory groups coordinate and that applications
indicate how that coordination will be implemented. He suggested,
in addition, that some of the extra funding that OJJDP has
received be placed into "challenge grants" of perhaps
$100,000 or so for one or two states to develop state coordinating
councils that mirror the work of the national Council and make
sure that innovations such as supporting novice grantees are
carried out. Judge Jones agreed with Mr. Mahoney's ideas,
supporting it with the example of the successes of governors' offices
that have coordinators for faith-based programs.

Mr. Flores asked that federal agency Council members (including
ONDCP and CNCS) contact Bob Samuels regarding what staffing,
technology, or other resources are needed by their agencies
to step up their level of commitment and do the work the Council
agrees to in its coordination efforts for 2005. Council funding
may be able to cover some of these needs.

Ms. Price (ED) announced that Margaret Spellings, the new
Secretary of Education, will welcome the group later in the
morning. She also thanked Sigrid Melus, Program Analyst with
the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, for her work in planning
the meeting, along with Bill Modzeleski, Associate Assistant
Deputy Undersecretary in the same office.

Review of Past Meeting and Written Public Comments Submitted
to the Council Bob Samuels, OJJDP

Working groups. The Council working groups that will
be created in the coming weeks and months to accomplish the
goals of the Council should be considered in the context of
the recommendations of the White House Task Force for Disadvantaged
Youth. Mr. Samuels asked that members think about other public
and private partners that ought to be involved, in addition
to generating topics and tracks that can be built into the
national conference in the winter of 2005-2006.

Partners in attendance. Mr. Samuels welcomed representatives
of several federal partners who work with youth populations
and have been invited to attend this Council meeting: Carleen
Copple, contractor to the Community Capacity Development Office
within OJJDP's Office of Weed and Seed (DOJ); Laura Cordero,
Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney, External Affairs, U.S. Attorney's
Office for the District of Columbia; Darren Cruzan, National
Program Coordinator from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (DOI);
Ernie Gonzales, Director of Youth Outreach Programs in the
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs
(DoD); and June Tracy, Senior Legislative Analyst with the
Indian Health Service (HHS).

Public comment. Doug Dodge, formerly with OJJDP and
now in the private sector, responded to the call for public
comments in the Federal Register and proposed setting
up a civic justice corps. The corps would involve youth in
civic engagement projects as a way to repair the harm they
have done by way of a crime and helps them finish their education,
gain skills, and move into a job. The Council will take his
recommendation under consideration.

Welcome and Remarks Margaret Spellings, Secretary
of the U.S. Department
of Education

At this point in the meeting, Department of Education Secretary
Margaret Spellings joined Council members and guests and welcomed
them to the Department of Education. Secretary Spellings thanked
the Council for its work in cooperating and coordinating with
activities across agencies and at the local level, particularly
in a time of scarce financial resources. She discussed the
focus of the Department of Education's work: the No Child
Left Behind law, which addresses key principles related to
safe environments and learning environments. For example, parents
have the option to remove their child from an unsafe school.

President Bush in his 2005 State of the Union speech talked
about at-risk youth and gang prevention, and First Lady Laura
Bush is traveling the country to highlight these issues, particularly
as they relate to young boys and young men.

Secretary Spellings pledged to coordinate Department of Education
programs with the programs of the other federal agencies on
the Council.

Presentations and Discussion on the Safe Schools/Healthy
Students Program William Modzeleski, Associate
Assistant Deputy Undersecretary, Office of Safe and Drug-Free
Schools, U.S. Department
of Education

Council members viewed a 7-minute video describing the Safe
Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) program, a Department of Education
initiative in 190 communities to protect children from the
physical, psychological, social injuries found in their schools
and communities. The video profiles the SS/HS program in Salinas,
CA, and shows how this comprehensive, integrated program helps
parents and schools reduce crime and violence around schools.

Bill Modzeleski provided a historical perspective on the SS/HS
program. In 1999, four factor converged to set the stage for
the program: (1) a series of school shootings occurred across
the country, (2) Congress responded by providing unencumbered
discretionary funds to states and communities to address this
issue, (3) federal agencies were willing to address problems
not with a categorical program but instead with a comprehensive
and strategic approach to creating safe schools, and (4) federal
agency staff understood, based on research, that new interventions
had to be created.

As part of SS/HS, the Department of Education collaborated
with DOJ and HHS, which also helped to forge linkages at the
local level. Further, grant requirements included partnerships
between local education agencies, local law enforcement agencies,
and county or local mental health agencies.

Grants ranged from $1 to 3 million per year for 3 years to
urban, suburban, and rural communities. Almost $800 million
has been awarded from 1999 to date. For fiscal year 2005, solicitations
will be released around March 8 and applications will be due
April 29; 40 new grants will be awarded. President Bush's
budget proposed new funding of $88.5 million in fiscal year
2006. The program has substantial commitments to technical
assistance, communications/social marketing, and evaluation

Sonia Chessen, Chief of Staff, Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services

Ms. Chessen stated the four major goals of the SS/HS initiative:
to improve and increase services to at-risk children and their
families; to link child-serving agencies in a consistent and
complementary way; to decrease violence, substance abuse, and
school disciplinary activity; and to increase the healthy development
of children. The underlying principles of the program include
the following: linking security with healthy childhood development;
providing comprehensive, coordinated services that are developmentally
appropriate; encouraging partnerships with schools, law enforcement
agencies, juvenile justice agencies, and mental health agencies;
and implementing science-based programs with demonstrated outcomes.

To ensure a comprehensive approach to violence prevention
and healthy development, SS/HS grantees link and integrate
the following core elements: safe school environments; violence,
alcohol, and other drug prevention and early interventions;
school and community mental health preventive and treatment
intervention services; early childhood psychosocial and emotional
development services; supporting and connecting schools and
communities; and safe school policies, such as discipline codes.

Ms. Chessen related examples from SS/HS programs in Fort Collins,
CO, Niagara Falls, NY, Salinas, CA, and Springfield, MO, that
show probation officers encouraging students to attend school
and linking them to needed services, a hotline that helps prevent
threats of violence and connects students in crisis to services,
students in crisis getting help rather than facing suspension
or expulsion, and a Columbine-like shooting averted with a
tip to the school resource officer.

Participants in the SS/HS program believe that it is working.
Real partnerships have been forged at both the federal and
local levels. Effective, comprehensive, and coordinated approaches
to preventing youth and school violence have been implemented.
And, vibrant learning communities on youth violence prevention
and healthy development are evolving.

Ms. Dressler-Tetrick discussed the key support components
of the SS/HS program, the pieces put together at the federal
level to support grantees at the local level: training and
technical assistance (TA), communications support, and evaluation
assistance. The National Center for Mental Health Promotion
and Youth Violence Prevention provides training and TA on implementation,
sustainability, partnership building, evidence-based programs
and practices, and evaluation. The national center also offers
assistance with regional training, Web-based training, teleconferences,
onsite training and TA, site-to-site mentoring, and national
conferences.

The communications team provides communications planning,
message development, media outreach, social marketing, spokesperson
training, and materials and Web site development. In addition,
training institutes, onsite TA, specialty workshops, and teleconferencing,
along with national promotion of the SS/HS Initiative and local
grant accomplishments are offered.

A national cross-site evaluation of the first 97 sites is
being conducted and preliminary data will be released in 2005.
Several consortia of local evaluators were developed in fiscal
years 2002 and 2003, which required coordination and collaboration
on specific topics using vigorous evaluation methods. The evaluation
grant also states that local sites must set aside 7 percent
of their budgets annually for evaluation purposes. Local sites
realized that they must work harder at evaluation; therefore,
SS/HS is pilot testing a concept providing them targeted training
on evaluation, which will empower local directors and help
them work with local evaluators.

Jonesboro, AR, an urban community with 6 school districts
and a population of more than 55,000, received its SS/HS grant
in 1999. The community was majority white, with 40 percent
minority, including a growing Hispanic community drawn by the
region's agricultural jobs.

Prior to the grant, two middle school students, waiting in
ambush outside the school, killed four students and a teacher
and wounded many others. As part of a response to this tragedy,
a communitywide strategy was devised to address the following
general elements: school safety, alcohol and other drug violence
prevention and early intervention programs, school and community
mental health preventive and treatment programs (this element
consumed about 65 percent of the budget), early childhood psychosocial
and emotional development programs, educational reform, and
safe school policies.

The schools and the community were in need of help. Approximately
one in two students was referred for discipline because of
insubordination, and one in six was referred for disorderly
conduct. Almost half of eighth graders reported drinking and
41 percent said they smoked cigarettes. The juvenile population
in the county was rising substantially, increasing by 16 percent
from 1990 to 2000 and totaling almost 20,000. This sharp increase
made it clear that prevention had to be a focus of the program.

The three main components of the Jonesboro program were partnerships
with local law enforcement, changes in school design, and increases
in school security. The SS/HS model of collaboration between
the schools and law enforcement spread to the entire county
and its other departments. Design changes in school facilities
were made effective without giving the appearance of a prison;
they included secured exterior perimeters of school properties
and playgrounds, additional lighting, replacement of doors
and windows to impede unauthorized access, and electric door
openers at front entrances controlled by office personnel.
Safety assessments of school facilities revealed the types
of security devised, unsafe areas, the need for monitoring
of school entrances, types of emergency communication needed,
and alternate sites and access to them. Other security features
include low fencing, security cameras, recording equipment,
updated telephone systems with adequate lines for emergencies,
walkthrough metal detectors, and a software identification
system.

Ms. Copeland also discussed crisis management policies, the
alcohol and drug/violence prevention and early intervention
program, and school and community mental health services, including
a therapeutic day school, parenting classes, and daycare. With
the help of these and other services mentioned, juvenile drug
arrests fell dramatically starting in 2000 from almost 120
to less than 20 in 2003.

The Jonesboro program is in its second year of sustainability
without federal funding. The original cost borne by the federal
grant was around $2.7 million a year; the community has garnered
approximately $2 million a year to carry the program forward.

Presentation and Discussion on Prevention and Intervention
Programs for Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent,
or At Risk Gary Rutkin, Education Program Specialist,
Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs, U.S. Department
of Education

Mr. Gary Rutkin described the main provisions of Title I,
Part D, also called Prevention and Intervention Programs for
Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At Risk.
These programs were reauthorized under the No Child Left Behind
Act of 2001 (NCLB) and are administered by the Office of Elementary
and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education. Title
I, Part D, provides formula grants for educational programs
for youth in state-operated institutions or community day programs.
It also provides grants to local school district programs involving
collaboration with locally operated facilities for neglected
or delinquent youth. It serves approximately 12 million students
throughout the nation with a yearly budget of more than $13
billion.

The goals of Title I, Part D, are to improve educational services
in local and state institutions for students to meet challenging
state academic content and achievement standards; provide services
needed to make successful transitions to further schooling
or employment, and reduce the number of dropouts and provide
dropouts and youth returning from institutions with a support
system to ensure they continue their education.

Under state education agency formula grants (Title I, Part
D, Subpart 1), states receive funds based on the number of
children in state-operated institutions. Each state's
allocation is generated by child counts in state juvenile institutions
that provide at least 20 hours of instruction from nonfederal
funds and adult correctional institutions that provide 15 hours
of instruction a week.

Mr. Rutkin outlined the required content of the state educational
agency plans, including the awarding of subgrants to local
districts with many children in juvenile correctional facilities.
Grantees have an obligation to coordinate and collaborate with
local businesses, as well as juvenile justice and delinquency
prevention agencies. The concept of earned redemption, which
allows juvenile to return to the community after learning new
attitudes and behaviors, is applied in increasing numbers of
programs.

State agencies and school districts that conduct a program
under Subpart 1 or 2 evaluate their program to maintain and
improve educational achievement, accrue school credits, make
the transition to a regular program, and complete secondary
and postsecondary education and job training programs.

Data collection was incomplete in the past; two systems in
the Department of Education will collect data beginning with
the 2004-2005 school year: the Consolidated Performance Report
and PBDMI/EDEN, an ED-wide system that will potentially replace
the consolidated report. Previously, reporting requirements
included such demographics as race/ethnicity, gender, age,
disability status. Starting July 1, 2005, academic and achievement
outcomes will be collected for those students in the program
at least 90 days, including school, GED, and postsecondary
enrollment; credit completion; workforce entry; and demonstration
of responsible citizenship.

To increase accountability for student performance, a uniform
evaluation model in the form of a self-study will be designed
to help states and institutions collect data and use it to
improve their educational programming. The technical assistance
center that supports Title I, Part D, participants will make
the self-study available and will provide states with additional
key factors on which they may want to collect data. For more
information on these and other issues, such as funding and
potential collaboration partners, visit the Web site of the
National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the
Education of Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent,
or At Risk, www.neglected-delinquent.org.

Discussion on the Day's Topics, Followup to Action
Items, and Plans for Future Meetings J. Robert
Flores, OJJDP

Mr. Flores opened the floor to comments and questions regarding
the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative and Title I, Part
D, presentations.

Richard Morris (DOL) noted that juvenile drug arrests increased
from 1999 to 2000 and then dropped significantly from 2000
to 2001 in Jonesboro, AR. He asked what might account for the
drop. Marilyn Copeland with the Jonesboro Public Schools responded
that the SS/HS program has a broad range of services and programs,
which makes it difficult for evaluators to know which individual
or combination of strategies produce a certain result. However,
Ms. Copeland believes that software that identifies where events
occur, which students are involved, and what school and district
they are from helps to pinpoint the problem and summon resources
quickly. In addition, reviewing a year's events using
the software, for example, facilitates planning for more efficient
responses in the future.

Mr. Flores indicated that Council staff will be contacting
members in the near future to obtain information related to
action items the Council has agreed to perform.

The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for addressing
many of the immigration issues the Council has on the table,
which are of great concern because of the large number of immigrant
youth in primary and secondary schools. Mr. Flores encouraged
Council members to reach out to DHS and coordinate efforts
regarding youth and immigration, especially as they interact
with educational systems.

The next Council meeting will be held at the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development in the HUD Departmental Conference
Room at 451 7th Street SW., Washington, DC, on June
3, 2005. DOJ will host the September 9, 2005, meeting and CNCS
will host the December 2, 2005, meeting.

Closing Remarks J. Robert Flores, OJJDP

Mr. Flores reminded Council members that OJJDP has funding
to help federal Council agencies carry out the Council's
goal of coordinating and combining federal efforts that impact
juveniles. He asked members to let Council staff know how those
funds can be used by members in member agencies. Mr. Flores
acknowledged that members face challenges regarding staff time
and ability to track certain information, two aspects that
the OJJDP funding may be able to address. He will meet with
(in person or by telephone) each Council member in the next
6 weeks. Until then, he asked that members contact him or Bob
Samuels to indicate what specific resources they need to take
their coordination activities to the next stepand the
related dollar amounts to support them. It is important to
continue to demonstrate to the conferees who recognized the
work of the Council last year in the appropriations bill that
they continue to make a good investment in the Council. Practitioner
members also were asked to offer their recommendations about
programs and activities that work. All members were asked to
stay in touch with each other and to learn from each other.

Mr. Flores and Deborah Price (ED) thanked Council members
and other participants for attending and Mr. Flores adjourned
the meeting at 12:37 p.m.
Attendees

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Office of
the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs Ernie
Gonzales, Director of Youth Outreach Programs

Office of Vocational and Adult EducationDiane McCauley, Research Analyst

Student Achievement and School Accountability ProgramsGary Rutkin, Education Program Specialist

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)Division of Children and Youth PolicyJustin Milner, Research and Policy Analyst
Sonia Chessen,
Chief of Staff, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
and Evaluation

Indian Health ServiceJune Tracy, Senior Legislative Analyst

Office of the SecretarySarah J. Gesiriech, Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary